“The USA doesn’t search battle and has no intention nor need to interact in additional hostilities, however these Iranian-backed assaults towards U.S. forces are unacceptable and should cease,” Austin stated in an announcement. “If assaults by Iran’s proxies towards U.S. forces proceed, we won’t hesitate to take additional crucial measures to guard our folks.”
The strikes come days after President Biden, dealing with rising stress to retaliate for the assaults, issued a warning to Iran’s supreme chief that the US would act if additional provoked.
The Biden administration is working to stop the escalating battle between Israel and Hamas militants within the Gaza Strip, who’re supported by Iran, from exploding into larger violence throughout the Center East. The renewed battle following Hamas militants’ Oct. 7 assault into Israel, which killed greater than 1,400 folks, has stoked long-simmering tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The USA has for a few years confronted assaults from Iranian-linked militants in Iraq, the place the US maintains a drive of some 2,500 troops, and in Syria, the place the U.S. personnel quantity round 900. The Biden administration has approved earlier strikes towards Iranian-linked targets in Syria, together with in March of this 12 months.
The Biden administration has expressed robust help for Israel within the days for the reason that Hamas assaults, expediting shipments of munitions and different arms to Israel and dispatching two plane service strike teams to the area in an effort to avert an growth of the battle. It has additionally urged warning as Israel prepares for an anticipated floor offensive in Gaza, the place well being officers say the dying toll has already reached greater than 7,000.
Austin stated the strikes “don’t represent a shift in our method to the Israel-Hamas battle.”
Talking on the United Nations earlier on Thursday, Iran’s international minister warned that the US wouldn’t be “spared from this hearth” if the battle in Gaza intensifies.
